Green Lifesyle in Turkey

Environmentalists urge Turkey to embrace green lifestyle
Saturday, April 12, 2008
ISTANBUL - Turkish Daily News

It’s time for Turkey to look past the Kyoto protocol and listen to the voice of the market, where rising oil prices mark the dawn of a new environmentally friendly global economy. Experts said Friday that Turkey only stands to gain by adopting a hip greener lifestyle, and the marketing sector can help Turkey's marketing industry can play a key role in capturing the imagination of today's Turks to embrace an environmentally friendly lifestyle and economy, said experts at the Green Marketing conference in Istanbul Friday.

In a globalizing world driven by consumption, the marketing industry has taken heat for the environmental toll of production, as advertising firms have sold the image of the modern consumerist, said John Grant, the conference moderator and author of the Green Marketing Manifesto. “People think marketers are part of the problem because we have in a sense increased a consumerist society,” said Grant. “But they still talk to us because we can make a change as well.”

The head of Germany's Green Party and former Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer called on Turkey to reconsider the model “First try to get rich and then fix the inevitable environmental problems that arise from the process” during his keynote speech at the conference. Globalization is bringing with it an economic revolution shifting consumption from the minority to the majority, where quantity matters, he said. Dealing with the staggering global growth and limited resources is the real green challenge, he said, and climate change is just the “tip of the iceberg.” Mounting food prices and the scarcity of raw materials and energy are post-cold-war realities, and when China's and India's populations catch up financially, the effects on the economy could be devastating.

“I don't know what the world will look like then, without a revolutionary change.” All is not doomsday, however. There is hope. The economies and businesses of the future will have to address this issue and will be forced to work together across borders. “We have a common responsibility to sustain the globe and the environment, and the economies will have a role in that,” said Fischer.

The real question, however, is whether Turkey is ready to start its own “green revolution” and move from rapid development and growth to energy and resource efficiency through a national policy that promotes a more ecological lifestyle. The United States, the biggest CO2 polluter per capita, had had years to enjoy its televisions and cars and was not ready for change, said Grant, a U.K. native. In a sense, he said, no country would be ready until businesses and individuals started talking about it and making changes. “As a human you have to be the change,” he said and cited the example of how Swedish furniture maker and seller IKEA gave a bicycle to each of its 100,000 employees.

Mehmet Sezgin of Garanti Bank, which has launched an environmental campaign through its Bonus Card services, said when it comes to a greener Turkey, there was not much to be hoped for from policy makers. Businessmen and the marketing sector, on the other hand, have the obligation to tell customers how important a greener market is. “Politicians won't make changes. We have to make changes and bring Turkey to Kyoto,” he said criticizing his country's refusal to sign the Kyoto protocol.

Fischer said he understood the reasons why Turkey didn't sign the Kyoto protocol, but he didn't share them. “I think it's short sighted,” he said. In the 1980s when he first joined the Green Party, people would laugh at their claims that environmental change would be a threat to economies. “Today in Germany, the EU and the United States, no one laughs at the ‘Greens' anymore.”

Energy efficiency and prices

The world is producing energy and wasting it, said Fischer. “We are depositing pollution and wasting energy for free into the atmosphere and our rivers,” he said. “We use 35 percent and waste 65 percent. Why? Because it is too cheap,” said the green economist. The reason the United States had failed to come up with energy efficient cars, as opposed to Europeans and the Japanese, was all because of energy prices. In the United States it's cheap. “As a green, I'm not horrified by high energy prices, we need this pressure,” said Fischer.

In Turkey specifically, thanks to its geopolitical position, he said it only made sense for Turkey to become a leader and exporter of alternative energy sources in the region, he said. As oil prices rise, investments in alternative energy will only look better to Turkey.

“I want to see Turkey in the European Union,” said Fischer, “but it has to be a Turkey that fits.” Sustainability might be big in the EU, but Turkey would have to do it by itself in order to compete in a modern and rapidly changing modern world where economic growth will be based on environmental sustainability.

“Turkey would be well advised,” said Fischer. “Your country has undergone great changes, but economic success and sustainability are not economic contradictions, but will be at the core of economic development and modernization.” Demanding the latest in technology to make sustainability a reality is key for Turkey to cope with international pressure in a “post-Kyoto” world, said Fischer.

http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/article.php?enewsid=101614


Green Steps says:

As Turkey's regional economic influence continues to climb, "green" policies in governance and business will play a large part in determining whether the country will join the ranks of other international players in laying the foundation for the next, new paradigm.

Matching "green business" to "green consumption" is a major goal for Turkey. Business leaders and a rapidly enlarging consumer base will realize the benefits of industrial symbiosis in various ways. Foreign multi-nationals, whose own corporate platforms include the "green factor," will reach out to sectors in Turkey with a visible "greening" trend in development. Tourists, who flock to Turkey's resorts and historical hotspots by the millions, will increasingly demand eco-friendly options for their holiday planning. Everything from organic farming, to recycling programs and low-emission public transport will heighten the appeal of Turkey.

Going Green is the new paradigm.